She staggers back. “What?”
“Did we not make this clear?” I ask with a tiny smile, watching as she finally sees what we’ve been trying to tell her.
“But-”
She looks at Elijah and Mack, who stare back at her, reaffirming my statements.
“But you can’t-”
She gasps, clutching her stomach, hissing at the pain. I wrap my arms around her and let out a tender purr. She collapses against me, nuzzling my chest. Her scent so strong I feel drugged.
“Not fair, you’re cheating,” she murmurs.
“Funnily enough, if it makes you feel better, I don’t care how low I have to go.”
She tilts her head back, her hair twists in the wind and, to me, she’s never looked more beautiful.
“Your heat’s starting.”
“Soon,” she confirms.
“Do you want to go and look at your nest?”
She gulps and nods quickly. “But what about Danger?”
“I’ll run Danger over to Asher and Felix,” Elijah says.
“Yeah, I’ll go with him; we’ve got this.”
I give them a grateful look, though I know they can feel it through our bonds.
Sofia crouches down and, to my utter distress, starts to cry as she kisses the dog and says goodbye.
Danger whines but then happily trots off with Mack and Elijah.
She bursts into loud sobs, and I pull her into my arms, chuckling.
“You really love that dog, don’t you?”
“He’s my best friend,” she wails.
“He’s going to be fine. They will treat him like a king.”
“What if he doesn’t love me anymore?”
I throw my head back and laugh. “No one is ever going to stop loving you, Rebel. Come on, walk with me.”
I take her hand, trying not to notice how tiny it is in mine. The walk to the lighthouse takes twenty minutes. We don’t really talk. I think she’s nervous. I’m nervous.
This is Sofia. I’ve dreamed of this moment for years.
I open the front door, and she spins, walking backwards, her hair windswept, that gorgeous pink dress taunting me. She’s wearing these sandals that have glittering beads on them, just a hint of colour that accents the long, very long length of those tanned legs.
Her brown eyes look dark and mysterious, with not a flicker of green in them right now.
“Devon?”
“Yeah?”
